The Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI, the government agency that issues biometric-based Aadhaar numbers, will face its biggest challenge as the Supreme Court is all set to hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar on Wednesday. There are at least 25 petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging Aadhaar's constitutional validity and accusing it of violating the right to privacy. The case will be taken up at 11:30 am.
The five-judge bench of the Supreme Court who will hear the petitions include Chief Justice Dipak Misra, justices A.K. Sikri, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. Wednesday's hearing comes five months after a nine–judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that privacy is a fundamental right and Indians have an absolute right to privacy.
Aadhaar data breach proves design flaw
Aadhaar has been increasingly subjected to controversies, after the govenment started to impose mandatory linkage of the biometric IDs to for essential services. This, even when the apex court had said through an interim rule in 2013 that Aadhaar is voluntary and nobody can be denied services for lack of the biometric ID. However, last year, there was an incessant push from various government departments to link Aadhaar with PAN cards, bank accounts and SIM cards. Meanwhile, with reports of exclusion of rightful beneficiaries and Aadhaar data breach, skepticism around the security and efficiency of Aadhaar began gaining more support.
